Laurie Cerqueti
Selma Gilfix, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Saul & Claribel Simkin Centre, is pleased to announce that Laurie Cerqueti has been selected as the Centre’s new Chief Executive Officer. Irwin Corobow will be leaving the position on January 11, 2019.

Bradley West
By BERNIE BELLANBradley West is a polished motivational speaker – who happens to be a gay, Jewish man (by conversion). Here is how his website, called “Disruptive Integration”, describes him: “Bradley has developed expertise in human systems management and human sexuality.

Neil LazarusBy BERNIE BELLANNeil Lazarus is a London-born public speaker who travels widely educating audiences how to advocate on behalf of Israel. Over the course of any given year he says that he typically speaks to over 30,000 individuals in five different countries.

Gray Academy students singing “The April Wind”, composed by former Gray Academy student Vadim Dreyzin while he, himself, was a participant in one of the first Marches of the Living. (l-r): Nesya Greaves, Ethan Levene, Zahra Slutchuk, Sophie Braunstein, Samantha Waldman. You can watch a video of the students singing at http://jewishpostandnews.ca/categories-media/71-local/240-the-april-wind

By BERNIE BELLANOn Monday, October 15 a special event marking the 30th anniversary of the March of the Living was held in the Berney Theatre of the Asper Campus. Gathered together that evening were former participants on past marches, along with friends and family members, as they listened to stories about the march and watched a film about it.

(l-r): ALLAN FINKEL, JACK BORODITSKY, PERRY RUBENFELD, RON GALL, AL BENARROCH, CAREY BORODITSKY, and MARSHALL DANA
The Talmud Torah Beth Jacob Synagogue played host to a special service October 20 in which former members of the late Cantor Benjamin Browntone’s choir recreated some of the melodies taught to them by Brownstone or by Brownstone protegé Sam Simkin. (Note: The photo here was taken without the knowledge or approval of anyone associated with the synagogue, which is Orthodox.)

By BERNIE BELLANCurrent enrollments at the two principal schools that offer some form of Jewish education are now available.Both Gray Academy and the Hebrew Bilingual program at Brock Corydon have seen their enrollments remain quite steady from last year. Gray Academy's enrollment remains at 466, while Brock Corydon's is 219 - almost the same as it was in 2017-18.

Megan Sodomsky has been an ardent volunteer with Operation Ezra for two years now. She says it was when she converted three years ago to marry Matthew Sodomsky that she began to understand the importance of “tikkun olam” - a key goal of Operation Ezra.As a result, Megan persuaded her father, farmer Roy Tufford, to set aside a section of his farm, so that Yazidis could grow and harvest potatoes - which they did on Sunday, Oct. 7, bringing in over 600 lbs. that will be distributed among Yazidi families that have all been sponsored by Operation Ezra since its inception three years ago.

Read the following story and then decide for yourself whether the email received from Desserts Plus on Oct. 28 is not terribly ironic when you read a letter following the Desserts Plus email which was sent to us by Laurel Malkin, President of the Jewish Federation on October 25.